To the lighthouse

 

February 8, 2012 - To the lighthouse

Finally, the sun is shining this morning, which is appropriate since our instructor is dressed for the beach.  She appears at breakfast in a charming black and white striped bathing costume from the turn of the 20^th century, complete with hot pink parasol. 

But first, there’s the matter of tonight’s dinner to take care of.  We’ll be dining at the Coquina Beach Grill, just down the street from the hotel, and they would like to know what to fry up for us – shrimp or fish.  Hasn’t Florida discovered any other way to cook seafood?

Now, onto the classroom segment of today’s agenda: a lecture on lighthouses in preparation for our visit to the local lighthouse on Anastasia Island later this morning.  Fortunately, I brought my laptop along so I could take notes throughout the presentation. I can’t imagine how I ever got through college and grad school (twice!) without a computer?  This is so easy.  Now I can add to the K-W-L chart all the fun facts I learned about lighthouses. 

Do you know what a Fresnel (the “s” is silent) lens is?  I do.  I just learned that it’s the kind of lens that was installed in St. Augustine’s lighthouse in the mid-1800s.  Made in France, this lens is 9 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter, and it weighs several tons.  Evenly spaced around the lens are 3 bull’s eyes for directing the light.  

Have you ever heard of a nightmark?  I hadn’t until this morning.  It’s the flash pattern of the lens.  The lens in the St. Augustine lighthouse doesn’t just stand there and shine.  It rotates, making one complete revolution every 90 seconds.  So every 30 seconds, there’s a flash of light through a bull’s eye.  Every lighthouse has its own nightmark signature.  Some lights are fixed and don’t flash at all. 

There’s also a daymark.  It’s the color, size and shape of the lighthouse tower.  It makes one lighthouse distinguishable from others during daylight hours.  Each lighthouse on the East coast of the U.S. has its own daymark.  For example, the St. Augustine lighthouse looks like a barber’s pole (black and white diagonal stripes) with a red hat.  

But enough of dry facts.  Soon it was time for the scholars to pile into the vans for an excursion to the St. Augustine Lighthouse Station.  Along with a surprising number of my fellow elders, I elected to climb up the 219 steps to the top of the tower.  Elliott wisely stayed behind in the museum (housed in the former house of the lighthouse keeper).  I must be in pretty good shape from my frequent trips to the gym because I wasn’t even breathing hard when I reached the top.  

The life of a lighthouse keeper wasn’t easy.  Before the days of electricity, the keeper had to haul a heavy bucket full of whale oil up the steps to the top of the tower three times a night to keep the light burning.  He also had to trim the wicks of the lamps, fill them with oil, rewind the weight mechanism, repaint the tower every couple of years, clean the roof, and clean all the brass fixtures.  Oh, and the keeper also had to catch his own dinner.

Speaking of food, the fried shrimp I had for dinner tonight was absolutely delicious, probably because it was so fresh.  But I wish it hadn’t come with fried accompaniments – French fries and a hush puppy.  I was able to resist eating them.  However, it’s a constant battle to try to eat healthfully on this trip.  I suppose I also need to get some more exercise.  There’s a fitness room at the hotel, but we’re only a block from the Atlantic Ocean.  So after lunch today, Elliott and I decided to check out beach.  It was my kind of beach day:  bright blue sky with streaks of clouds, invigorating wind, and just the right temperature, about 70 degrees.  The tide was out, the sand was smooth and firm, and hardly anyone was there except the gulls – perfect conditions for walking.  

When we got back from the beach, Elliott decided to forego the afternoon excursion to Villa Zorayda so he could take a nap.  I joined the group heading back into the historic area.  Villa Zorayda is a privately owned villa built by a wealthy Bostonian, Franklin Smith, in 1883.  He modeled both the exterior and interior of the villa on a portion of the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain.  Smith and the villa’s subsequent owner, Abraham Mussallem, filled the house with a collection of rugs, hanging lamps, paintings, ceramics, sculpture, furniture and other art objects.  One of the most prized pieces was the 2,400-year old Sacred Cat rug which was originally wrapped around an Egyptian mummy.  The expansive central Lion’s Court, with its Moorish arches, was opulent and gorgeous.  But my favorite room, was the Harem Room.  This tiny room had walls lined with blue and white tile and it contained a couple of cozy low sofas strewn with patterned cushions.  I could have settled right down with my Kindle for the rest of the day.  Unfortunately, every single item in the villa had a Do Not Touch sign on it.  

There was an activity planned for this evening, a ghostwalk in the historic area, but Elliott and I decided to stay in since we’ll be up and out early tomorrow morning to see Flagler College.